Resume Pro Newsletter by Yana Parker, author of The Damn Good Resume Guide


From Issue #27, Winter 1996-97
Resume Writer's questions about 1) setting fees for her services, and 2) working with welfare clients who have little or no experience.

From Issue #28, Spring 1997
Resume Makeovers, Sue Miller's resume (Customer Service/Banking or Sales Admin.)

From Issue #27, Winter 1996-97Reader questions about 1) charging fees for services, and 2) about working with Welfare clients who have little or no experience, or have been fired from past jobs. Dear Ms. Parker, I enjoy and look forward to reading the Resume Pro Newsletter every three months. I wish it were every month! The ideas and suggestions regarding resume writing and job search have proven extremely helpful in my resume writing business, NEW BEGINNINGS. The only problem I have right now is charging a fee for my services. I have written and typed resumes free for individuals for a number of years, and after reading your book, RESUME PRO, I decided to turn my free resume writing service into a money-making business. I love it--I'm not making a profit yet, but I'm getting there!! Also, I work as an Employment Consultant with Curtis and Associates, assisting clients on public assistance with job search and resume writing. Do you have any suggestions that may help me in writing resumes for those who: - are currently on welfare, and may have never worked in their lifetimes, other than being single parents; - have worked a series of temporary entry level jobs; or - have been fired from numerous jobs?

--Stephanie Y. Taylor, M.S.Ed. NEW BEGINNINGS Superior Ave. Dayton OH 45407. Dear Stephanie, Let's look at each of the problems you mentioned:

1. Pricing/setting fees is a can of worms for ALL self-employed people. Check your peers' advice in the RESUME PRO book. The essence of the solution is: you HAVE to do local research. What you can charge in Podunk and what you can charge in Metropolis may be vastly different. What your SKILLS are worth needs to be compared with what's available in your community, too. For example:

Are you the only one who actually spends significant time working directly with your client, and creating a unique, customized resume? (As opposed to having them fill out a form from which you then construct a so-so resume.)

Are you an excellent word processor compared with the others? Are you so efficient you can get the job done fast, and offer a quick turn-around? Are you creative in resolving resume problems? Are you skilled in interviewing people and getting things out of tongue-tied clients? Do you have real-world business experience that can help you advise your clients appropriately?

All those assets justify a fee-structure that can make your business profitable.

You can get a clue about where you stand (and thus how to present yourself to clients) by checking out the reputation of your peers and competitors, and it is always fair to CALL your competitors and present yourself as a potential client. Ask them the kinds of questions that would indicate the level of service they provide, and what it costs. (Personally, I would not be attracted to a service that refused to give me straight answers on the phone about pricing.)

2. About writing resumes for clients currently on welfare who may never have worked in their lifetimes: First, I would take the position that it ISN'T TRUE that they have "never worked." Being a single parent is WORK! So even IF that is absolutely "all" they claim to have done, PARENTING COUNTS and can be entered in the Work History section of a resume as "Full-time Parent" without apology. However, parenting isn't YET accorded as much value, by some employers, as ANYTHING that looks like work people usually get PAID for. So it is VERY HELPFUL if you can beef up the "Full-time Parent" label with any marketable activities that happened during the same time period. Dig deep with your welfare clients to uncover anything you can present as WORK concurrent with full-time parenting.

For example, if they lived in a housing project:

Did they help organize or support a committee to upgrade the management of the place?
Did they help with after-school care, either providing it or making it happen?
Did they provide a freelance hair-cutting service for the neighbors?

The main point here is that THEY DID WORK, and it's your task to be resourceful in uncovering and articulating it so it WORKS on a resume. Just keep telling yourself, and them, WORK is WORK is WORK. (Just call that section of the resume "WORK HISTORY," not Employment History!) NEXT -- and this is equally crucial -- if this were my client I'd GET THEM SOME CURRENT EXPERIENCE, as soon as possible, any way that's possible, so there's something "beefy" to add to their minimal "work history." This can be UNPAID, it can be SHORT TERM. It could be as simple as one or two weeks volunteer work in any business that will allow them to come in and get some experience.

What's needed is some evidence of SHOWING UP to do some work every day, using some marketable skills in a business setting. This short-term EXPERIENCE can make all the difference, both in the client's self-esteem and confidence, and in the eyes of a potential employer. It can provide the client a source of WORK REFERENCES they couldn't provide before. Of course you'll need to convince them of the VALUE of "working for nothing" (which is what it may LOOK like to them) -- so they understand that this is, in fact, valuable FREE TRAINING (which in fact it certainly IS!) If you are working with your welfare client through an agency (such as a local employment service of welfare department) there is probably a program that will reimburse a new employer for PART of the wages they pay to an inexperienced new hire coming off of welfare.

3. Working a series of temporary entry level jobs poses less of a challenge, perhaps. Here you will want to take advantage of the opportunity to include some GOOD WORK HABITS in the "SUMMARY" portion at the top of the resume. ASK THE CLIENT what THEY think it took to be a good employee in a low-paying job, while trying to juggle the stresses of parenting and frequently learning a new job-routine. If they haven't yet NOTICED how resourceful and determined they had to be, to perform under those conditions, then YOU can point it out to them, get them to appreciate their own efforts, and help them present these assets on their resume.

4. Having been FIRED from numerous jobs poses a DIFFERENT set of challenges. In your talk with them, you could help them identify the actual reasons for the firing, and how they feel about it. (Was it fair? Was it justified?) Then help them understand that, fair or not, the burden is on THEM to make the potential new employer comfortable with the situation of hiring them. (After all, the employer has no way of knowing the truth of the situation, and OF COURSE they will have a "show me" attitude.)

I would have the client choose one or two COLLEAGUES/co-workers from each of the places where they have been fired, and arrange with those co-workers to speak well for them (even in writing) about the VALUE they produced on the job. The BEST strategy might be to support the client in making a direct contact with the past employer who fired them, to see if the relationship can be patched up to AT LEAST the point where they would provide a reference letter. If that were possible, it could dramatically improve the client's feelings about that experience, as well as their ability to talk about it in an interview.

I will give you a personal example of this: I was indirectly fired from a temporary job once, because my supervisor (a rather conservative, religious woman, it turned out) heard me using a word she found offensive. (In my social circles, the word was considered colorful but harmless.) I didn't even know, until later, that this was why I was not invited to stay on the temp job when the contract ran out and needed to be renewed.
When I applied for ANOTHER temp job in a different department at the same university, I was shocked that I did NOT get the job. When I checked it out, I learned that this previous supervisor had given me a bad reference. I went directly to her to explore the reason, and learned she'd been upset by the language I used. I asked whether, other than that, she felt my work was satisfactory. She replied, "Oh, yes, it was fine, in fact I really liked what you did for us - I just didn't think your language was appropriate in my office." I told her I really needed the work, and asked if she'd be willing to explain to the Personnel Department, about my actual WORK being quite satisfactory - and she agreed to do it. THEREAFTER I had NO PROBLEM getting future temp assignments. The POINT IS, advise your clients to check it out! Sometimes a bad scene can be repaired! Sincerely, YANA PARKER